« Shopping inside the box | Back to the main page... | The Value of Online Auctions to Loyalty Marketers »

This year's Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, held in San Jose last week  is quickly becoming a bellwether for our industry.  Dubbed "America's Largest e-Retailing Show", the conference represents a chance for vendors, investors, multi-channel retailers, pure play etailers, analysts and journalists alike to come together in the name of all things eCommerce.

Yes, while there are other such events out there, IRCE seems to have assumed the distinction of being the show that can't be missed.  Why?  Well, I have a theory on why....(shhh...its the content). 

With events like these, there is a very fine line between generating good revenue for the organizer and generating good content for the attendees -- sometimes they are mutually exclusive.  IRCE seems to have found the right mix however.  Perhaps their history as being a publisher first, event organizer second, has worked to their advantage.

We live in a pretty jaded era.  Consumers, whether B2C or B2B, are bombarded with selling messages every time they turn around.  My belief is that the folks at IR have done a good job of providing  true thought leadership content: ie best practices and ideas from industry leaders, in a forum that caters to the retailer first and foremost. 

This value added content, whether in the form of breakout sessions or part of the larger conference itself, is key to bringing getting retailer buy in (4000 attendees this year).

And as one can imagine when you cater to the retailers, the vendors are sure to follow.  Similar I would think, to time-honoured practice of adding playgrounds to fast-food restaurants...if the kids want to go, the parents and their wallets are sure to follow.

The end result for Internet Retailer?  The industry's most respected, and most diverse conference.  Retailing giants like Macy's, Best Buy and WalMart together with a wide array of small and mid-size retailers and online pure-plays.  With more than 30% of the retailing attendees at $10 million online or below, this year's show was truly an accurate representation of the market itself.

We will be back next year...

Craziest Niche Market Retailer: http://www.usbgaggifts.com/About%20Us.html

Most Interesting New Vendor: https://www.changeroundup.com/default.aspx

Posted at 02:31 PM in Retailing Events | Permalink